Monday 25th April 2011

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1. Cherry blossom time in Japan

It is cherry blossom time in Japan, a country recently stricken by earthquakes and tsunami.

A cherry blossom is the flower of the cherry trees known as sakura. It heralds the arrival of spring. Sadly, the flowers last only a few days and then they fall from the trees and are swept away with the wind.

Cherry blossoms flower at different times throughout Japan. The cherry blossoms begin blooming in January in Okinawa and they are at their peak in late March to April in Honshu region. In Hokkaido, cherry blossoms usually become in their peak in May.

As part of the nightly weather forecasts, the Japanese Meteorological Agency tracks the sakura zensen (cherry-blossom front) as it moves northward up the archipelago with the approach of warmer weather.

Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) has been a Japanese custom since the 7th century when the aristocrats enjoyed looking at beautiful sakura and wrote poems. Sakura is a symbol of Japan.

It is said that there are over four hundred varieties of cherry trees in Japan. The most popular kind of sakura which can be viewed everywhere in Japan is somei-yoshino (Yedoensis). Japanese cherry trees do not yield fruits like other cherry trees.

2. Human Echolocation – is seeing believing?

One of the many benefits of Aikido is the sharpening of awareness and sensory perception. Blindfold work is quite difficult but it makes a noticeable difference. But this is nothing compared to what you will see in this video.

But this excerpt from Horizon – Is seeing believing? makes me feel quite humble about my small achievements. Daniel is totally blind with no visual memories. Incredibly, he has taught himself to navigate (in this case riding a bicycle) by echolocation.

Echolocation is inbuilt biological sonar used by bats and dolphins to navigate. In this case, Daniel makes a clicking sound with his tongue. The sound waves bounce off the surrounding objects and creates an image in his mind.

The entire Is Seeing Believing? program aired on SBS a week or so ago. I enjoyed it then and I hope you enjoy this 10 minute segment now.